A reader (Helen) has alerted me to this newish expression ‘concept creep.’
Sometimes a concept simply ‘takes off’ in a culture and becomes the ‘go to’ explanation for… well, almost whatever you want to explain.
That is ‘concept creep.’
Some examples will make it clearer.
It seems that in medicine the vastly over popular diagnosis these days is ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).
This was once applied only to children.
But now adults all over the place are being diagnosed as having ADHD.
Medical authorities in both Britain and America warn of over-diagnosis.
If an adult is a bit twitchy or has trouble paying attention—bingo! —they are said to have ADHD.
Mind you they might only be suffering from lack of sleep or work stress, but the label is always ADHD.
That is ‘concept creep.’
The same has happened with ‘climate change.’
These days every storm, every high tide, every earthquake, every volcano is said to be caused by ‘climate change.’
This is ‘concept creep’ in high gear.
‘Climate change’ is a slow moving, long-term phenomenon, but that does stop the alarmists from applying the concept to everything that happens.
‘Concept creep’!
Then there’s the word ‘Nazi.’
This is now used (often people who have no idea what the word means) to describe people whose politics they disagree with.
Usually, it’s people on the left calling people on the right bad names.
But if everything is Nazi then nothing is really Nazi.
Just like the other examples of ‘concept creep.’
If everything is ADHD, then nothing is really ADHD.
And if ‘climate change’ causes everything, you can be sure it is causing nothing!
‘Concept creep’ explains it all.
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